National Recovery Administration

National Recovery Administration

In 1933, the United States was in the throes of a severe economic depression. Unemployment was widespread, and the economic system was in chaos. An emergency measure was needed to alleviate the situation, and the members of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal administration attempted to ease the problem with the passage of the national industrial recovery act (NIRA) (48 Stat. 195).

The chief provision of the act was the establishment of business codes to be enforced nationally. The codes included rules regarding fair competition, discontinuance of antitrust regulations for a two-year period, voluntary participation in unions, and establishment of shorter hours and better wages.

In June 1933, the National Recovery Administration (NRA) was created to supervise the execution of the NIRA under the direction of Hugh S. Johnson. During its first year, the NRA worked on the industrial codes; all participating businesses displayed a blue eagle, a sign of patriotism as well as acceptance of the program.

Many people regarded the NRA as too powerful, and in 1935 the U.S. Supreme Court declared the Codification system of the NRA unconstitutional in schechter poultry corp. v. united states, 295 U.S. 495, 55 S. Ct. 837, 79 L. Ed. 1570, due to the incorrect granting of legislative authority to the Executive Branch.

In 1936 the controversial NRA came to an end. During its brief existence, employment was stimulated, child labor was prohibited, and labor organization was encouraged.

Further readings

Bellush, Bernard. 1975. The Failure of the NRA. New York: Norton.

Himmelberg, Robert F. 1976. The Origins of the National Recovery Administration: Business, Government, and the Trade Association Issue, 1921–1933. New York: Fordham Univ. Press.

David Niven, a professor of American politics at the University of Cincinnati, said the NRA almost certainly wanted to punish Strickland for being an "apostate" on top of ensuring the gun-friendly GOP maintained its majority in the Senate.

Other companies, including Wyndham Hotels and Best Western hotels, have let social media users know they are no longer affiliated with the NRA, though they did not make clear when the partnerships ended.

One, a luncheon held at Houston's posh Coronado Club, featured a pep talk by oil and gas magnate Clayton Williams, a longtime NRA supporter who said he'd donated $1 million to the NRA's Freedom Action Foundation in 2010, and promised to do so again in 2012.

Instead of relying on letters to the editor in the national press or sound bites from the NRA to explain gun enthusiasm or pro-gun ideology, perhaps gun control supporters should simply ask their friends and neighbors.

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